Feb. 3, 2022 By Michael Dorgan
Two teens have been charged with attempted murder for shooting at cops during a botched carjacking on the Rockaway Peninsula Tuesday night.
Chad Collie, 19, who allegedly shot an off-duty cop and then fired at uniformed officers giving chase, has been charged with attempted murder in the first and second degree, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.
Collie, from Rockaway Beach Boulevard in Far Rockaway, was also charged with assault, attempted robbery and criminal possession of a weapon.
Jayare Robinson, 18, who joined Collie in the stick-up, was hit with attempted murder in the second degree, assault, attempted robbery and criminal possession of a weapon. Robinson is from Beach Channel Drive in Arverne.
The pair were arraigned before Queens Criminal Court Thursday. They each face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
“This was a brazen carjacking attempt that all-too-easily could have ended in yet another tragedy for NYPD and all New Yorkers,” said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz in a statement.
“This blatant disregard for human life must be answered with certain justice.”
According to the charges, the attempted carjacking took place at around 10:00 p.m. Tuesday when the off-duty cop, 22, was stopped at a traffic light at Beach 62nd Street and Beach Channel Drive in Arverne. The officer was driving to work in Brooklyn.
The defendants walked up to the car and Collie tapped on the driver’s side window and told
the off duty cop to get out of his vehicle.
The rookie cop got out of the car and then attempted to get away from the pair before Collie fired off three shots in his direction – with one bullet hitting the cop in the shoulder. The cop returned fire but did not strike either defendant.
The defendants fled the scene and were confronted about three blocks away — near Beach Channel Drive and Beach 59th Street – by uniformed officers in an unmarked police vehicle, prosecutors said.
Collie fired a shot towards the cops which struck the rear bumper of their vehicle, police and prosecutors said.
The officers did not return fire and chased the suspects on foot before apprehending them a short distance away without further incident. They recovered a firearm in a patch of grass, prosecutors said.
The off-duty cop was transported to Jamaica Hospital in a stable condition, police said.
Both defendants were ordered back to court on Feb. 27.